Letters to the editor: Feb. 18

A better way to limit bills at Statehouse

When the state's rules allow any chairman to not let a vote occur, then many legislators will posture their bills for back home folks and introduce bills they know will not go anywhere. This practice will change for the better when all bills are assigned to the correct committee and committee votes are held. It will reduce the number of bills introduced and make the legislative process more meaningful.

Government is mostly about power and control. When you reduce the power, you create more transparency. When you reduce the control, you allow our representatives to be more accountable and represent us.

Larry Rose

Lafayette

Ignoring history in push for nullification

Did anyone else wake up this week only to find out it was the year 1851. or was it just the Feb. 15 J&C guest columnist from Crawfordsville?

Did you hear that, U.S. government? Hoosiers are calling to nullify health care in much the same way they nullified Richard Mourdock. Indiana wants inflated health costs and poor care, and if Hoosiers can't have that, then they are taking their ball and going home.

Did anyone notice if that made the feds shiver in fear? The writer thinks that it will. It leaves one to wonder if he is aware of what happened the last time nullification was used as a tool of the minority to subvert the will of the majority. He may not have. It only resulted in that little skirmish called the Civil War.

It is easy to see how such a minor event in history can be overlooked by someone as obviously astute as the guest columnist. Perhaps he skipped his government credit, but it is clearly established in Marbury v. Madison that the Supreme Court has the power of judicial review upon which a thing such as the Affordable Care Act can be held constitutional or not. Once constitutionality is decided, then the Supremacy Clause kicks in.

Perhaps state Sen. David Long knows something the guest columnist doesn't. Perhaps he knows that fighting losing battles is costly in both time and money. In the twisted mind of the conservative, constitutionality means "explicitly written in quill by the 'founders.'" I am sure that the last 200 years of American history will be surprised to find that out.